Weekend of local rock volume 45

Just like I did for the first rendition, last Saturday I was at the Bands for Baby Ava II benefit held at the Pour House in Ocean City. (This time Kim tagged along as well.)

Unfortunately, I have to extend my apologies in advance to the three bands Kim and I didn’t stick around for: Slackjaw, Square Root Syndrome, and Witches Brew will have to wait for another day for me to see them. For whatever reason we were just whipped.

There were a few different wrinkles for round 2. First of all, there were fewer items donated so the auction was done as a Chinese auction where tickets were purchased and dropped into a bag so the winners were picked randomly.

Remind me to bring Kim along to the next Chinese auction, though – she won one of the items!

They also began the show a LOT earlier so that some bands who had performances later that evening could play. But first up was a band made up of up-and-coming youngsters who are taking advantage of their chance to get in front of an audience – this was Parental Guidance.

One thing I noticed (although it’s not in the picture) was the video cameras recording the show. Well, perhaps these guys are their own worst critics.

Obviously it’s a good learning tool, but the band was well received by those who came when the show first got underway.

The next band indeed had a show across the bridge later that evening but wanted to perform.

Normally I’m not a huge fan of rock/rap combos, but Bride Dressed in Black was quite impressive, performing both originals and a unique take on ‘We Are the Champions’ as a highlight of their show. I could see why they were in demand.

Lime Green was another band that had a second engagement and played early.

It had been awhile (far too long) since I had seen them, but I recalled at the time they were a three-piece. So obviously there’s been personnel changes, and they mixed a broad range of cover songs with the originals ‘Pemberton Park’ and ‘Psychedelic Dream.’

The tone changed somewhat as the lone acoustic act, Jason Lee, took the stage.

Lee is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for Crookedfinger, but stuck to covers for this solo performance.

I noticed that there was quite a follwing gathering around for the next band, the Justin Crenshaw Band.

With the possible exception of a cover of Poison’s ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ JCB played the part of a modern country band. Apparently they have a large following about their Charles County base, and several made the five-hour drive to see the band play their 45-minute set.

These folks up front liked them as much as Kim did, so I’ll give them a second picture. Me, I’m not a big fan of country music but they were certainly good musicians who put on a solid show.

Now I expected a definite difference when Dean took the stage, and for the most part I was correct.

The one criticism I would have of them may not have been their fault, but on the slow songs it was hard to hear the vocals. The first two songs and the last couple songs they did were definitely harder-edged than what they did in the middle, and I thought those came off better.

One other thing which left me a little disappointed but wasn’t completely unexpected was the smaller audience. The Pour House was packed for edition 1 but there was more elbow room this time. I took this while Dean was playing, about 6:00.

But while Dean was a new experience for me, I had a pretty good idea what to expect from Gravy.

Of course, they did not disappoint. And they are another band which made a personnel addition because I didn’t recall keyboards in their midst last time I saw them. It made a difference in what they could play, although they kept some of the other songs I remembered as well.

That pushed the show past its halfway stage as 13 bands were scheduled, and unlike the initial show there weren’t the single-shot acts between bands, perhaps because Skip Dixxon and crew were trying to cram in thirteen bands in as many hours.

Next up was a band that played in the first rendition as well, Abbey’s Cage. (This time I apparently spelled it right.)

They did the heaviest set of the night, with songs by Tool, Linkin Park, and Drowning Pool punctuating their set. That’s why the bodies were hitting the floor, as you can see in the picture.

It slowed down somewhat for Asphalt Surfers, who played more of a blues-rock set.

It seems to me they played quite a bit of ZZ Top, too, which makes sense because they’re a three-piece group.

We were tired, but managed to stick around to see Semiblind play.

And because they’re friends of ours I’ll give them individual shots, too.

One thing which stuck out about the Semiblind set was Michele singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ as a Whitney Houston tribute.

Something else struck me as we listened, though. Obviously I’ve followed this veteran band for quite awhile, and there’s no question that a cover list has to be freshened up from time to time. What I noticed was that, because Michele is now becoming a sought-after DJ in her own right (she’s known in that profession as DJ Siren) the band’s playlist is evolving to more closely match the songs she plays a lot at those gigs. People want to hear ‘Red Solo Cup’ and the band learns it, for example. If nothing else, it goes to show that despite Semiblind being on their second bassist and probably sixth or seventh drummer since I’ve come to know them, there’s a lot of talent there.

I will grant that I don’t travel the world to see the various local music scenes, but the one we have right here has a pretty deep pool of good musicians who deserve our support – not just because it’s how they scratch out a living, but because they also unselfishly give their time for a cause. They didn’t charge a dime for doing the Baby Ava benefits, and between the two they raised almost $10,000 for the family.

But I think the well may be a little dry for the time being in terms of fundraising. Next week Skip will have his annual Spring Luau at the Pour House, with 10 bands on the bill currently. That should be a good show.